Brenda Edwards was elected chairwoman of the tribe in July 2013. Photo from Facebook

A federal judge is staying out a leadership dispute within the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma.

Brenda Shemayme Edwards won re-election as chairwoman in July 2013. Opponents say they removed her through a recall petition but she has remained in office.

Vice chairman Phillip Smith later went to the Court of Indian Offenses, which acts as the tribe's court, to keep Edwards out of office. She responded by filing a lawsuit in federal court against the court.

Proceedings in that court continue. That's why Judge Timothy DiGiusti said he wouldn't get involved in the matter for now.

"Plaintiffs have the opportunity to be heard in that forum, to raise the jurisdictional challenges there, and to appeal any adverse determination," DiGiusti wrote in his decision, referring to Edwards.

Turtle Talk has posted documents from the case, Caddo Nation v Court of Indian Offenses.

Get the Story:
Feds staying out of Caddo leadership dispute for now (The Native American Times 8/12)

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